Lillian Kimball

“ Words should be examined solely from the point of view of their function in the sentence, the part they play in the communication of thought. Always the sentence should be the unit of study, and it should be looked at, not primarily as expressing a thought that was once in the mind of its author, but rather as forever communicating thought to the minds of its readers. For men would neither speak nor write without an audience. Their aim is not to get their thought into words for satisfaction to themselves, but to convey thought by means of words to their fellow-men. ”

“ It seems best not to separate all but, but to consider the expression as one adverbial modifier of the passive verb was killed. In the sentence, He was all but dead, we may say if we choose that all is used as the base-word of the adjective complement of was, and is modified by the prepositional phrase but dead. However, the sentence does not appeal to us in this way; we do not naturally make the separation between all on one side and but dead on the other. Still less do we make such a separation when the word following but is a verb ”

“ When such a clause is independent, it gives the reason not for any action expressed in the sentence nor for the whole statement, but rather the author’s reason for using a particular word or phrase; as, “The bitterest opponent of the poet (for like every strong personality he has many enemies) is thus no less his debtor than his warmest admirer.”—Boyesen. ”

“ Every dependent proposition can be changed into an independent proposition, and so might have been brought into the sentence in that form. For example,—
The Mohawk shouts his death song, and he hardly feels the scalping knife.
That country is inhabited by the noblest minds and it is the fairest.
Success should be won by honest industry and a brave breasting of the waves of fortune, and no other success is worthy of the name. ”

“ The unrestrictive adjective clause.—This is one that merely adds a thought to some idea already expressed. The additional thought is often valuable, but it is never necessary.—“The window of the little parlor looked down upon the water, which had made friends with its painted ceiling, and bestowed tremulous golden smiles upon it when the sun shone.”—Howells. The clause here is evidently not used to point out which water is meant, but to tell something further about the water, something unnecessary to the truth of the sentence, but valuable in giving the reader a beautiful picture. ”

“ Now, when we study the structure of the human body, we look upon it first as a symmetrical whole, then we separate it into its largest, most distinct members,—the head, the trunk, the arms, the legs. After we have noted the relations of these parts, we take up each part as a whole and proceed again in the same way. In analyzing sentences we shall pursue the same method.
Every sentence is a unit just as the body is; like the body, too, it is made up of smaller units. In studying its structure we should first of all find the units which compose the sentence-unit. ”

“ In the sentence,—“I fear that he will come,” it would appear at first thought that the noun clause, that he will come, might be changed to his coming, but this would change the meaning; for the clause implies that his coming is not expected with any certainty, while the expression his coming implies that it is so expected. Every time, in fact, that a noun clause is used, it serves a distinct purpose, and it is safe to assume that in a well-constructed sentence no other element would answer so well. ”

“ A clause of motive answers the question why? or what made him do it? It can be used only to modify a statement about a human being or perhaps one of the higher animals—something that can act from a motive.
2. The causal clause may denote the cause of our knowledge of a fact, the evidence from which we draw a conclusion, but not the cause of the fact itself; as, “The other bird probably grew to maturity, as it disappeared from the vicinity with its parents after some days.”—Burroughs. This clause, sometimes called a clause of reason, answers the question how do you know? ”

“ In the sentence,—“Like to an angel of peace she seemed that day,” how shall we dispose of to if we call like a preposition governing angel?
If we go back to the writings of Milton and Shakespeare, we find the words liker and likest, showing plainly that in their time like was looked upon as an adjective or adverb. We often find, too, the preposition to or unto expressed after like. It is best, therefore, to dispose of like as an adjective, meaning similar, when it introduces a phrase modifying a noun or completing a verb; and as an adverb, when the phrase modifies a verb. ”

“ The noun clause, the root infinitive, the gerund, and the participle used as subjective complements, have been discussed in preceding chapters.
To this use must also be referred the personal pronoun in the possessive case used as in the sentence,—“All [Pg 177] the beauty of these summer days is mine.” Is this pronoun a predicate nominative meaning my beauty, or is it a predicate adjective meaning possessed by me, or shall we make no attempt to classify it at all?
The word so often does duty as a subjective complement. It is used to avoid a repetition of some noun or adjective ”

“ A sentence containing a transitive verb can always be changed to the passive form, the complement becoming the subject, and the subject of the active verb becoming the object of the preposition by. This second point is a better test of the transitive verb than the definition is.
For example, take the verb earn in the sentence,—“Indeed, a man may earn twenty thousand dollars a year by writing ‘sensation-stories,’ and have nothing to do with literature in any high sense.”—Higginson. It is true that when a man earns he acts, but his action is not performed upon the twenty thousand dollars. ”

“ A group of words similar in office to as well as, but not so often used, is no less than; as, “The first lesson of literature, no less than of life, is the learning how to burn your own smoke.”—Lowell.
Besides joining words, phrases, or propositions as the elements of one sentence, the coördinating conjunction, especially and or but, is often found at the beginning of an entirely new sentence, where its function is to show the relation in thought between the new sentence and the one preceding. ”

“ An adjective in the comparative degree is often followed, not by a clause of degree as we should expect, but by an infinitive introduced by than; as, “He is wiser than to make such a remark.” The infinitive phrase modifies wiser and is joined to it by the subordinating conjunction than.
IV. In addition to the foregoing constructions we occasionally find the infinitive used as the object of a preposition. The few prepositions governing infinitives are except, but, and save, the two latter meaning except; as, “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself.” ”

“ When found without adjuncts it does not materially differ from the noun; for example, Painting is a fine art. But usually the verb-nature of the gerund is prominent as well as its noun-use, for usually it is accompanied by a complement or adverbial modifiers; as, “The need of feeling responsible all the livelong day has been preached long enough in our New England.”—Wm. James. The gerund together with its adjuncts forms a gerund-phrase. It has certain advantages over the root infinitive. In many places it is preferable because it gives the idea of an action in progress. ”

“ Though we believe that the intentions of Cromwell were at first honest, though we believe that he was driven from the noble course which he had marked out for himself by the almost irresistible course of circumstances, though we admire in common with all men of all parties the ability and energy of his splendid administration, we are not pleading for arbitrary and lawless power even in his hands.—Macaulay. ”

“ Note.—The construction, “I had rather go than stay,” may be explained by treating go as an infinitive without the sign to used as object of the transitive verb had. Expanded the sentence reads, “I had to go rather than I had to stay.” The constructions, “I had sooner go than stay,” and, “I had as lief go as stay,” may be explained in the same way.
After dare, need, and please the sign of the infinitive to is usually omitted; for example, “I dare do all that may become a man.” Dare and need are often used with a subject in the third person singular, whereas we should expect dares and needs ”

“ We occasionally come across sentences constructed like the following,—“What a man does, that he has.”—Emerson. The meaning is,—“A man has what he does,” the noun clause what he does being object of the verb has. But in the original sentence the pronominal that is object of has, and this indefinite object is explained by the noun clause what a man does, which is therefore to be called an appositive. Such an arrangement arises from a desire to make the clause prominent and also to hold the main thought in suspense until the end of the sentence. ”

“ By an infinitive phrase we mean a group of words of which an infinitive is the base, the whole group being the equivalent of a clause and forming an element of a sentence. It is an element employed so frequently that it is very easily interpreted, and its great advantage is that it enables us to dispense with a subject and predicate. ”

“ The infinitive also retains its verb nature so far as to take any of the modifiers or complements of the verb; for example, in the sentence,—“To furl a sail is to roll it up and secure it,” the subject is the infinitive phrase to furl a sail, the base of which is the infinitive to furl. Now in so far as to furl is subject it has the use of a noun; it has the nature of a noun, too, in naming an act; but it also has the nature of a verb insomuch as it denotes action performed upon the object sail. ”

“ The base-word of the phrase, usually a noun, is called a noun in apposition.
In general the appositive is not a necessary element of the sentence. So far as the truth of the statement and the grammatical structure of the sentence are concerned, it may be omitted. Sometimes, however, it is joined to a noun to point out a special individual or class, when it resembles the restrictive adjective clause; as, “It is quite true that practical life is a kind of long, competitive examination, conducted by that severe pedagogue, Professor Circumstance.”—Huxley. ”

“ An omission of subject and verb, the latter being a copula; as, “Solitude, though silent as light, is, like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man.”—De Quincey. Since the noun solitude immediately precedes the clause as subject of the principal proposition, the clause is perfectly clear without even the pronoun it for a subject, and the verb is is easily understood. Only the new and necessary ideas need be expressed and these are the attribute silent as light. The base of such an attribute is not always an adjective ”

“ Such a word as river in the first sentence or red in the second is called an objective complement. A noun used in this office somewhat resembles an appositive, being a second name for an object already named; but the appositive has no relation to any word except the noun it explains, while the objective complement has a very important relation to the predicate verb. So close is this relation that we may often express the meaning of the two words, the verb and the objective complement, by one word; as, “Political freedom makes every man an individual.”—Higginson. ”

“ How Propositions differ in Nature.—In studying the human body we cannot help seeing that all the prominent members are not equally important. Some could exist independently of others, while some are joined directly to a more important part, and, if separated from it, would have no use or life. So, in studying a sentence, we notice that all the propositions are not equal in rank. ”

“ This participle is sometimes used substantively; thus, “The loving are the daring.” “The slain were left to die.” Of course such a word as people is understood after these participles, and in analyzing these sentences it may be supplied if one so desires, but it is no more necessary than it is in the sentences,—“The good are happy, the righteous are blessed,” where a qualifying adjective is used as a noun.
2. The participial phrase as a substitute for a proposition.—We come now to those frequent and important uses of the participle where it saves a predication. ”

“ The members of a compound sentence may denote contrasting thoughts; as, “In cities we study those around us, but in the retirement of the country we learn to know ourselves.”—Longfellow.
The second member often denotes a thought not to be expected after the first has been accepted; as, “Boys are capital fellows in their own way, among their mates; but they are unwholesome companions for grown people.”—Lamb. This sentence reminds us of the complex sentence containing a clause of concession, for it might easily be recasted into one,—Though boys are capital fellows, etc. ”

“ In clauses of both varieties given above there is often an ellipsis, the words omitted being those already expressed in the principal proposition and hence easily supplied. In the sentence, “Mrs. Patten had more respect for her neighbor Mr. Hackit than for most people,” when we analyze the clause we must fill it out so as to make it read, than she had respect for most people.
3. The clause of degree may tell not that things stand to each other in a relation of equality or inequality, but that they vary in the same proportion ”

“ As part of a double object of a transitive verb. We have just said that if one person resolves that another person shall act, or hopes he will, the fact may be told by using a substantive clause; as, “I resolved that John should go.” But if I expected that John would go I [Pg 118] could tell it by using an infinitive; thus, “I expected John to go.” This is a matter settled by usage; some verbs must be followed by a clause object, while others may be followed by a noun and an infinitive. We call the noun (or pronoun) and the infinitive a double object. It is not two objects ”

“ When we analyze this sentence modifier we find it to consist of the adverb far for a base-word, modified by a prepositional phrase introduced by from. The object of the preposition is a gerund, which may be complete or incomplete, modified or unmodified.
It is not uncommon for far to be modified by so, which only intensifies its meaning; thus, “For the King’s subjects, so far from being charmed by his resolution to marry a woman out of their midst, are scandalized.” ”